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‘Victims of the Fury’ (Chrysalis CHR 1215) ****
After a brief excursion into the realms of lightweight soul
and R&B (refer to ‘In City Dreams’ and ‘Caravan to Midnight’) Trower has returned to his old format and eight albums later he still packs the same punch that was obtrusive on his debut ‘Twice Removed
from Yesterday’.
For a while it seemed that we’d lost the Trower of Power to the American midweights. He conformed and spread out his sound by pulling in a bass player, allowing Jimmy Dewar to
concentrate on vocals.
Although this gave RTB a whole new playground it somehow diluted the bands’ essential identity, and although it gave musicians more scope on stage, Dewar looked something of a spare
part crouched behind a pair of bongos in the corner of the stage.
So now there are three, Trower handling guitars, Dewar back to bass and vocals and ex-Sly Stone man Bill Lordan on drums. This album shows no
marled progress, not a revelation in sight chief, but puts Trower firmly back on his pedestal in producing high energy riff orientated rock.
If all the songs were of the same quality as the opener ‘Jack
and Jill’ (which is positively screaming for single release, far better than the title track) then this would be a definite five star review.
Even with the added weight of Procol Harum’s lyricist Keith
Reid providing words to six of the ten songs, Trower cannot escape his limitations or obvious influences. Dewar still sounds like Paul Rodgers (or is it the other way round?), Lordan still sounds like a restrained
powerhouse.
It’s all solid, competent stuff with a live sounding production courtesy of Geoff Emerick and Trower. He plays a couple of pleasant solos but nothing that takes him further than ‘Bridge of
Sighs’ (in my opinion RTB’s zenith). In fact one track, ‘Into the flame’ sounds uncomfortably like ‘Too Rolling Stoned’.
A promising start to a fairly average offering. But a good album, not a great
album. OK Oscar?
Pete Makowski, Sounds, January 1980
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